Page 40 of Secrets of the Forgotten Heir

Next morning, Eva woke me at seven by repeatedly licking my face. Apparently she thought that dog breath was the best way to stop me oversleeping and being late for work. She wasn’t wrong; it was like being waterboarded, but affectionately.

As I stretched, there was a knock on the door and Maddie poked her head around it. ‘Great, you’re up.’

‘I wouldn’t go as far as "up",’ I groaned. ‘Stretching barely counts as awake.’

‘Let’s go get a coffee.’ She was annoyingly chirpy. ‘After last night I really need one. Maybe a double shot.’

‘Is this the same coffee Ezra bought me?’ I opened one eye a fraction.

‘The very same. You’re going to love it.’

My mouth watered with the memories of the intense creamy caffeine hit. Some things were worth getting out of bed for. ‘In that case, give me two minutes. I’ll be there.’

Having lived in London for so long, I’d seen plenty of cafés and coffee shops with queues outside them. There were restaurants where you had to wait on the street three times longer than it took to eat brunch, and where you had to book a year in advance for a dinner reservation. I’d never seen anything like that in Witchlight Cove. Sure, Claude’s bakery could get busy, particularly when he pulled out some of his seasonal specials like his spiced pumpkin pasty at Halloween, but as far as I was aware this was just a normal day.

Even so, a queue was already snaking down the street outside the little door on the unassuming building with the large sign that saidInsomnia Coffee. A smaller sign simply readSonny’s. ‘Wow, people here love their coffee these days,’ I muttered.

‘No, they loveSonny’s coffee,’ Maddie corrected. ‘And wait until you’ve tried his mocha. It’s out of this world.’ She rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

‘Is that a review or a prophecy?’ I asked. ‘Because if I’m going to have some kind of mystical awakening after one sip, I want a warning first.’

She snorted.

We slipped into the queue. I was surprised by the way my nerves were fluttering. I was in a queue in full view of half the village – okay, not quite half, but it felt thatway. Did they know who I was?WhatI was? A lapsed guardian?

A woman a few places ahead offered me a wave and I reciprocated with a vague smile. ‘That’s Pepper Polter,’ Maddie murmured. ‘Ezra’s cousin. She was a year below us at school. She married a vampire.’

‘Huh.’ I didn’t know what surprised me more, that a werewolf would marry a vampire, or that someone a year younger than me was already married. I’d thought I was being mature by committing to my dog for the next ten to twelve years; to agree to be with someone for life was a whole different matter.

I spotted Helga and Volga ahead of me. Both had matching blue rinses, though Helga’s hair was long and curly whilst Volga’s was short and straight. The two old ladies lived together in the cottage next to mine, and until that moment I’d always assumed they were just good friends. Watching the way Helga’s arm snaked around Volga’s waist, though, I suddenly realised that they were probably lovers.

‘Hey,’ I whispered to Maddie, ‘are Helga and Volgatogether?’

Maddie grinned. ‘You’re just now realising huh?’

I blinked. ‘I just thought they were friends, like us. We always said if we didn’t find love by thirty we’d move in together.’

She snorted. ‘As if thirty is old enough. Let’s amend the pact to forty.’

I laughed. ‘Deal.’

As I looked down the queue, I was surprised how many faces I recognised even if I didn’t know their names. I guess it’s a small-town thing – people tend not to leave, and even if they do they often migrate back at some point like particularly stubborn swallows who’ve decided city life isn’t for them.

I supposed I was in the latter group, though I refused to admit it. This wasn’t a migration; it was a temporary stopover like when you end up crashing at a mate’s place after a night out because the buses have stopped running. I was in Witchlight until I’d sorted out the house issue and that was it. No nesting, no putting down roots. And definitely no getting attached. I looked at Maddie standing next to me and grimaced. The roots were already taking hold.

Despite receiving some surreptitious glances, Pepper was the only person who actually waved. That made sense; if she was Ezra’s cousin, she’d probably heard what hadactually happened rather than the dark gossip people had bandied around.

When we finally reached the front of the queue, I stared at the barista. I couldn’t help it. There was no disguising that he was a vampire, not with his fangs fully visible and perching over his bottom lip.

Eva whimpered beside me and I sympathised. I’d always thought there was no reason to be more scared of vampires than other magical creatures. Yes, they could kill you, but that death could come with a side dish of eternal life that you didn’t get if you were killed by a werewolf or a witch. There was the whole blood-draining thing, but I’d been willing to overlook that.

‘I thought vampire fangs only came out when they were hungry,’ I whispered to Maddie. ‘Or angry.’

‘And there’s your answer,’ she whispered back. ‘Sonny isalwaysangry.’

‘Fantastic,’ I muttered. ‘A grumpy vampire with unlimited access to hot liquids. What could possibly go wrong?’

The customer in front of us snagged his drink and moved out of the way. ‘Hey, Sonny,’ Maddie smiled at his scowling face. ‘How are you doing? That tattoo looks like it’s only got a week or so left. Do you want me to book you in for another appointment?’

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